Tweet volley on RichRod's status

EDIT: If you're tired of comments on the MSM, you might want to avoid this. Based on prior similar posts (and the number of responses to those posts) I judged that it may be of interest to a subset of the readership.

* This morning, Tommy is still on the case with this jewel: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1157352 Among the choice tidbits in that column are "From the get-go, Rodriguez has seemed like a bad fit for Michigan," "But some [ED: Like Tom!] feel that may not be enough for him to keep his job,"and "RichRod's biggest sin may not be his inability to develop a defense. It may be that under his watch, Michigan's football program is on probation for the first time." Cue the Sparty voice: "MAJOR violations ... huh, huh!"

Allegations 1 through 4 in the Notice of Allegations did not name Rich Rodriguez, and did not pertain to him.

Allegation 5 alleged that Rich Rodriguez had "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance." Rodriguez disputed that. Most notably, the University joined him in disputing it. The University, which had opened its books to the NCAA, supplied everything that the NCAA wanted, and which had its own outside counsel parallel the NCAA enforcement counsel's work, was convinced that Rich Rodriguez had not committed such a violation.

And in the end, the NCAA agreed. The NCAA transformed the fifth allegation into one of a University "failure to supervise." That is to say, Rich Rodriguez had personally done nothing wrong, but either he or someone else within the football program had failed to supervise people under Rodriguez's general command.

Again, Rich Rodriguez personally committed no violations.

Sport, if you're gonna come on MGoBlog and debate the NCAA investigation and Rich Rodrgiuez, you had better have your shit together.

Most sports writers are under the impression that their journalism degree = people caring about their opinions, which is sorely false. There's a Woody Paige employed by every newspaper in the country, no matter how small. It's probably best to not listen to any of them...ever.

Just to comment on the overall state of sports journalism: it's a shame guys like this overshadow good journalists like Jeremy Schaap and Bob Ryan just because they're meatheaded rumor-mongerers who act on impulse and emotion and will tell any jackass whatever the hell they want to hear, no matter how unfounded it is, because said journalists only care about the amount of times they get to listen to/read themselves, not about the quality of what it is that they're saying.

Brandon's job is NOT to appease the public's curiosity. He does not know yet whether he'll keep RR or not, and he's waiting until the end of the season to decide. Even if the evidence seems to point to RR returning, he'd be foolish to analyze that before the season's over

on the subject of Michigan football, was done by a college student: Jacob Smilovitz, son of Bernie, and a Michigan Daily sports reporter.

Jacob was apparently the one and only guy in Southeast Michigan to challenge one of the supposed elder statesmen of Detroit sports writing, namely Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, asking him why Henning had publicly stated that Rich Rodriguez would be fired, on Monday. Jacob asked Henning all the right questions and determined that Lynn Henning... had no information at all about whether there would be some dramatic Monday announcement.

The Free Press' vaunted Michigan beat writer did a story on the "rumor" (Henning's self-manufactured "rumor", to be blunt about it), and never mentioned Henning's recklessness. The Detroit News "staff" did an online blog-post about David Brandon's Tweet, acknowledging the text of the Brandon Tweet in which he declared that the rumor was rubbish. But the News never copped to the fact that their old curmudgeon Henning had been at the center of the story.

The one thing about all of the Tweeting is that it shows how dead in the water the major newspapers are, in terms of fast-paced information. But of course, the speed of Twitter does nothing for quality journalism, even as practiced by the week's young star, Jacob Smilovitz.

You look at Tom Dienart's Twitter feed, and it is such garbage. Poorly written, ill-constructed phrases (how do you screw up your grammar in so few characters?) crapola content. And yet Tom Dienart is one of the slugs whom Mark Snyder of the Freep turned to, in order to construct a story alleging that "national experts" were speculating on a replacement for Rich Rodriguez.

Ride Henning all you want, but go listen to the original podcast where he expressed the OPINION that Rich would be fired. He states clearly that it his feeling admitting that there was no special information he had. If you listen to it, it leaves no doubt that he is stating an opinion.

He did nothing wrong and it warranted no follow up unless the particular writer following up wasn't listening. I am not a big fan of Hennings, but he did nothing wrong or irresponsible in this case.

If he did do something wrong, where is David Brandon coming out and saying he did something wrong? He was all over the media for being irresponsible a few weeks ago when the sanctions came down.

The poster with negative 200 whatever points Spoof asks some good questions. Although I doubt Ohio State is this Rodriguez last stand game in Brandon's eyes. Rich could really help himself if we win.

More likely Rodriguez status also might depend on Harbaugh's status.

If not, than why not kill it with a denial? Henning asked Brandon specifically about Harbaugh and there was no denial but rather a fall back to the "after the season" answer. Harbaugh was asked during Cal week and gave the "focusing on Cal" answer.

The solution for Rich isn't to have all of us fight back and forth about what is true and what isn't. The solution also isn't for people to attack Lynn Henning or fans with a differing opinion. The solution is the same as always for Rich Rodriguez. Go be competitive and beat good teams in the conference.

He hasn't, Harbaugh has, which is why this distraction exists. It is not the fault of Lynn Henning or anti-RichRod fans.

“First, understanding what their intent is, what our team’s intent is going to be. You’ve got to be willing to work for that. You’ve got to be willing to earn that..." 12-30-2014

You can say "I don't think he's going to make it, he's going to get fired". Heck, even "fearless leader" said that at the New York Alumni thing. But when you say "I think he's going to get fired Monday", unless you're running a pool, you basically making a prediction. And after you JUST interviewed David Brandon, people aren't going to think you just pulled your opinion out of you ass. Someone perceived (if wrongly) as having inside knowledge, a reporter, has a higher level of responsibility than dude at the end of the bar. It's irresponsible.

This is the first time I heard that Henning clearly stated it was his opinion with no special information behind it.

So I'm glad you posted this since everything I've ever seen you post is unbelivably fair to both sides. It's brave for you to go against the grain, but we need it.

I am responsible for not checking out Henning's actual thoughts first hand.

Henning should should still work on the articulation of his thoughts, though. Step into our shoes and think how are we going to interpret this? I mean, why state an actual date to get all fans and other media types crawling all over to see if it is true? And if he was doing it on purpose to hurt Rod, then he is very rude and selfish (trying to keep this mature) and people should try to avoid his work to reduce his stage. If he did it on accident, well, then he doesn't have the skill set to do this and we should still avoid his work. Either way his credibility is reduced.

I also feel like the other media guys (was it Herbstreit or someone else?) who picked up on Henning's opinion is also responsible for stating Henning's opinion inaccurately.

This is getting ridiculous if DB already knows that RR will be here for next season he should just squash everything so everyone can focus on the game and the bowl game. How can you let a Heisman type qb and a top 5 offense go to the wayside? YOU CANT! get the other side of the ball fixed with new personnel and schemes and we will be fighting for Big Ten Championships! HAIL!!!

because that means the Athletic Department becomes the MSM's bitch. Dave Brandon dictates when these things will be determined, not some jackhole with a keyboard. THAT is the reason nothing has been said.

in a recent interview Jon Stewart said "to those who we disagree with, we often demonize them but we angelize people who we agree with" I feel that the writers who cover Michigan sports have the right to criticise or applaud on the teams performance. People may or may not disagree but it has gotten to the point where people have resorted to personal attacks of these writers that seem to be unwarranted.

it's laughable speculation with no basis. laud all you want or deride those who deserve it based upon merit - creating a storyline based upon self-created notions of what should or could happen is not journalism.

I agree with both Steve and Geaux, even though they don't seem to entirely agree with each other. Yes, if DB's mind were already made up, it would have behooved him to say so already. Not necessarily on behalf of the media. On behalf of the teams, fans, recruits, and, not least, RR. Why would he leave "his" coach hanging out there like this? Why would he not stabilize things immediately?

Because DB really isn't quite sold on RR. Which likely means: the OSU game will play a significant role in his judgement. Which likely means that certain unpopular prognosticators may well be on the money, after all.

When DB sits down and looks at things this season heres what he is going to see.

We competed in every single game...couple stops here, INTs thrown, MADE FG's, injuries...the outcome would have been different. Even in the Wisconsin game, we could have made it a 1 possesion game.

Injuries/Youth on defense hurt us pretty bad. Not only do these players gain quality game expeirence, they have another year to get stronger and progress. That is where the New DC and defensive staff comes in. I dont think this staff progressed the players at all and the scheme is very very questionable for Big 10 play. Bring in Casteel if you want to keep the scheme and let him work his magic.

We have a Heisman conteder, a top 5 offense in the nation. That is all returning next year...Can you imagine how much better this offense can really be?

RR has not lost this team what so ever...everyone has bought into the program and everyone is ALL IN FOR MICHIGAN...

Can we Buy a FG kicker on ebay or something? how many pts was left on the field alone because of a missed FG?